Anya McCoy founded the USA's first modern natural perfume line in 1991. Since then, she has nurtured and educated natural perfumers and hosts a discussion group for them. Anya is the Head Instructor at the Natural Perfumery Institute that she founded in 2007 to provide a professional course for perfumers. In 2006 she revived the Natural Perfumers Guild, a trade association. She is a recognized leader in the art and the 'go-to' person for anyone interested in natural perfume.

Friday, January 26, 2007

Freedom to Choose -- and Use -- as Informed Consumers - STOP THE FDA GLOBALIZATION ACT OF 2008

First thing I must state is that no natural perfumer, or traditional perfumer I know, desires that any product they create would cause a rash, irritation, allergy or respiratory problem in the consumer. Or themselves, for that matter, since we deal with the essences every day. The user of natural aromatics, whether they are for personal or professional use just wants something that smells wonderful, puts them in a good mood, and has that deeply wonderful gestalt that only comes from nature. We also recognize that some naturals can cause problems because of their chemical makeup. They're also after some synth oils created in a lab, but I'm here to focus on the naturals, since they let a lot of the synths slid into use without proper review.

Are you a niche, boutique perfumer who uses either all natural aromatics, or, perhaps some synthetics in your perfumes? This is for both of you, even though the focus of this blog entry will focus on naturals, because they are the heart of my business. The Amendment I am protesting (see below) will make regulatory compliance a nightmare for all of us.

IFRA, the International Fragrance Association, was founded in 1973 "to represent the collective interests of the fragrance industry worldwide." One of the primary goals of IFRA is self-regulation of the industry, which is voluntary. They believe that self-regulation is the primary way to allow the industry to operate without having to address laws on a country-by-country basis, which, admittedly, could be unwieldy.

Based on scientific evidence, which many challenge on various grounds, IFRA has either prohibited, restricted or allowed numerous aromatics, both natural and synthetic to be classified by their Standards. Each year, more and more aromatics are added to the list of prohibited or restricted.

Let's talk common sense for a minute. The EU (European Union) legislators have gone hog wild with taking up the cause of IFRA, making many of the previously-self-regulated aromatics verboten by passing laws (in direct opposition of IFRAs original goal.) The EU has been criticized for regulating many wonderful food and fragrance items out of existance.

Their need to be Big Brother, the womb-to-tomb Protector of Everyone to the point of, in a fantasy, placing everyone inside a plastic bubble so that no pollen, fragrance, raw milk product or other "suspect" product causes damage to poor little you, you, simple uneducated citizen, you who are unable to make a decision for yourself as to what goes in your body or on your skin.

Several venerable perfume houses have announced that they've reformulated their classic parfums to comply with EU regs. What a travesty. That is destroying a work of art. Why not just sell the perfume with a warning tag, much like we see on cigarettes, alcohol, food that contains possible allergens, etc? Why the wholesale banning? We are not children, we are able to make decisions for ourselves, and if we wish to tempt a rash to rise on our skin, that's our choice.

As a natural perfumer, I am concerned that they will try to legislate the natural essences so that a license is needed, or a prescription in the case of an aromatherapy product. Why focus on naturals so much, while allowing so many synthetic fragrances to go to market untested? There is something very, very skewed about all this.

From the online petition site put up by Tony Burfield, who has led the fight against the proposed 40th Amendment:

We the undersigned petitioners oppose the 40th IFRA Amendment to its CoP, the unecessary red tape it will create, and the other widespread negative implications for all natural aromatics/essential oil users, across a range of professions. We will strongly object to any subsequent adoption of the Amendment into the EU regulatory process. and we request that IFRA reconsider ther position, preferably by debate with all affected parties.Tony Burfield ofhttp://cropwatch.org has taken up this fight for many years. Based in the UK, Tony is a perfume chemist and activist, looking out for issues related to the natural aromatics trade, including regulatory issues, sustainability of natural resources among others. He managed to put a large, sharp pin in the side of IFRA last week, causing them to issue their first-ever press release on the subject of unfair bais towards naturals.

Tony called for a boycott of IFRA. A major industry website carried an article on the issue. Allured Publishing, the major flavor and fragrance industry publisher in the world,is conducting a poll on its Perfumer and Flavorist magazine website,the results to be announced on February 7th. Scroll down to the lower left corner to see the poll.

Here's Tony's latest statement, with the link to where you can sign the petition:

At last we have a petition up - protesting against the 40th IFRA amendment and its implications for all natural aromatics/essential oil users.

This isn't really just about Cropwatch, its about taking a stand against one of the prime movers (IFRA) in a regulatory process, which (intentionally or otherwise), is slowly phasing out the use of natural materials in favour of synthetics in cosmetics/fragrances. We can see a similar process going on - the phasing out of natural aromatic materials - in many other areas - biocides, over-the-counter medicines, household products etc. etc.

A good showing here in particular can help us enormously by proving that David (us) can triumph over Goliath (the Corporates). A bad showing means that we can be dismissed by the authorities as insignificant.

Please help us by spreading the word on this petition to as many groups and individuals as possible.

Anya again:I'll be writing a FAQ on this issue within the next week, and Robert Tisserand, the noted author and scholar on essential oils, aromatherapy and safety issues - he literally wrote The Book on this -- is writing the Artisan Natural Perfumers Guild Position Paper on it.

In the meantime....here's a partial list of natural oils restricted or limited by IFRA and the EU, and many more are in the pipeline, victims of over-regulation, Big Brotherism, and lack of labeling and common sense:

When I originally formed this blog entry in my mind, I wanted to use the David v.Goliath image, but thought better of it. I'm going to take a more peaceful route and just share that I feel a "New Dawn" is coming, and here's an image of the lovely "New Dawn" rose, climbing upwards, supported, a nice image:

Anya, I enthusiastically signed the petition and will link to your blog so that others can read what this is about and sign it, too.

When big government attemts to micromanage products such as perfumes, I can only imagine that what's behind it is the motive of corporate profits. The big corporations don't want to use the naturals because of cost. So they don't want anybody else to be able to compete. Maybe the small, natural perfumers were getting too much interest from adventurous perfume lovers?

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About Me

Anya McCoy founded the USA's first modern natural perfume line in
1991. Since then, she has nurtured and educated natural perfumers and
hosts a discussion group for them.

Anya is the Head Instructor at the
Natural Perfumery Institute that she founded in 2007 to provide a
professional course for perfumers. In 2006 she revived the Natural
Perfumers Guild, a trade association.

She is a recognized leader in the
art and the 'go-to' person for anyone interested in natural perfume.